Ukraine on Wednesday said that it had detained a high-ranking official within its own security services who was allegedly working for Russia.
Kyiv claims to have detained hundreds of people — including officials and security officers — for allegedly aiding or collaborating with Russia since it invaded in 2022.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that agency head Vasyl Maliuk had personally carried out the arrest and that President Volodymyr Zelensky was informed of the operation, codenamed “rat”.
“The chief-of-staff of the SBU Anti-Terrorist Centre was working for the enemy,” the SBU said in a statement posted on social media.
The SBU said it had documented 14 cases of illegal activity by the suspect and opened a trial on high treason charges that carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The “extremely complex” and “multi-stage” operation revealed how the suspect collected and transmitted information to Russia, the SBU said.
It added that it had also used the suspect to feed “disinformation” to Russia.
Maliuk said the man had been working in his current role with the Ukrainian intelligence service since 2016.
Russia at the time was backing separatists who controlled large parts of eastern Ukraine.
“No matter how hard the enemy tries to infiltrate our ranks — they think they have have all the possible forms and methods of secrecy — they will not succeed. Because we detect, document and detain them in a timely manner,” Maliuk said.
The SBU also said the suspect was recruited by the Russian security services in Vienna in 2018 and that his parents were also being probed.
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